The
Scythe Shuriken heatsink is virtually silent even at full speed. This makes it
incredibly hard to record the sound of the fan in the Frostytech Acoustic
Sampling Chamber... To listen to this heatsink in operation, be sure to click on
the little headphones icon below and play the sample MP3 files.

FrostyTech Acoustic Sampling Chamber - Full
Speed

Standard Waveform view of a 10 second recording.
Click on the headphones icon to
listen to an MP3 recording of this heatsink in operation. The fan is
rotating at 2200 RPM.

FrostyTech Acoustic Sampling Chamber - Low
Speed

Standard Waveform view of a 10 second recording.
Click on the headphones icon to
listen to an MP3 recording of this heatsink in operation. The fan is
rotating at est. 650 RPM.

Sound Level Measurements: Which Heatsink is
Quietest?

Listening
to the actual noise a heatsink makes allows you to hear what pure numbers alone
cannot get across. To further emphasize FrostyTech's reliance on cold hard facts
when evaluating a heatsink, we also take noise level measurements with a sound
level meter.

FrostyTech Heatsink Noise Level
MeasurementsNoise level Decibel
measurements of each heatsinks' fan in operation are taken with the
aid of a sound level meter and sound isolating enclosure. The values
may be higher than the mfgr's listed specs, but are directly
comparable to one another. Measurements are made on the dB (A)
scale, lower values are best. Information on Frostytech's test
methodology is available
here.

The
Scythe Shuriken heatsink's 12mm thick fan spins at 2200RPM by default generating
a whisper quiet 38.2 dBA noise. Because it is equipped with a PWM fan, its speed
can drop as low as 650RPM, or 31.9 dBA.